Sonic Heroes 2
by Mecha Scorpion
Summary: Eggman steals the Master Emerald and in the process kills two of the Sonic Heroes. For Sonic and the others, it's time for revenge. Review!
1. Chapter 1

Sonic Heroes 2 

Here it is, people, that serious fic I said I'd be working on. Enjoy!

It had been a long time since sunrise. But Knuckles the Echidna hadn't moved since then, staying upright with his neck tensed. The Master Emerald behind him reflected the rays from the sunset, backlighting the echidna and transforming him into a menacing silhouette.

He made his first movement in hours by rotating his neck. A chorus of pops and cracks greeted him. In this motion, he missed a white form flitting from tree to tree.

Rouge the Bat smiled that seductive smile of hers. She was carrying an RPK light machine gun on her back and a PM pistol in her hands. The bat rolled behind the next tree silently. But Knuckles smelled danger. His spiked fist clenched.

Rouge climbed up the tree, biting her lip as she got a splinter in her paw. She flew from her position, landing on a ledge just above Knuckles. She watched the echidna's fist slowly unclench… to reveal a small metal sphere.

Knuckles hurled it into the air. With a beep, it gave an energy pulse that knocked Rouge down to the echidna's feet.

"When will you learn, bat-girl?" hissed Knuckles, but his expression conveyed amused annoyance rather than fury. "The Master Emerald can't be stolen. You'd have a better chance of getting Sonic to admit that Shadow is faster than him." Rouge hated to hear his voice, but at the same time she loved it. With a smile she planted her hands on the ground to stand… and kicked his legs, knocking him over. She sprang upright and smirked at the echidna before walking toward the Master Emerald's shrine. But she saw something in its reflective surface… something that shouldn't have been there.

She flew to the side as a spray of bullets sliced through the air, not harming the Master Emerald. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Knuckles spring up, looking for the source. So he hadn't been the shooter. But who?

She flew upward to see something made of metal streak toward the Emerald, moving too fast to see. It moved at a speed that would make Sonic and Shadow look like snails. The creature ran right into a tree, uprooting the tree and sending it collapsing in the path of Knuckles, who had began to chase it. The echidna tore through it with his gloves and removed several more of the energy pulses that Rouge had been struck by.

The bat wasn't willing to give up the Master Emerald to this creature. She unhooked her RPK and blasted a clip at the charging creature. It paused at the distraction, and both the echidna and the bat got a better look. It was sleek and lean, shaped like a hedgehog but nearly seven feet tall. Its eyes were red-tinted glass, and its right arm was a huge, triple-barreled cannon. The cannon spat out a series of mini-grenades, creating a huge explosion in front of Knuckles. The red powerhouse tried to leap it, but it was at least twenty feet wide. He couldn't…

Rouge flew in. Knuckles grabbed onto her legs and swung himself onto the robot, throwing punches that would have dented the Egg Carrier. But the robot showed no sign of damage. It picked up Knuckles with its left arm and threw him into a tree. Pieces of bark fell of with the impact. The metal creature stomped over to Knuckles, not seeing Rouge moving overhead.

A cannon clicked, and Knuckles stared cross-eyed at the barrel pointed at his head.

Rouge knocked Knuckles out of the way, picking him up as she went. The blast from the robot's arm uprooted the tree and sent it flying into the air… over Knuckles and Rouge.

Rouge stared helplessly up at the tree, hanging in midair, and suddenly felt lighter, less weighted down.

It was because Knuckles had let go.

The tree fell on top of the echidna. It splintered into many pieces, but Knuckles was surely dead.

"No!" screamed Rouge. The robot had been moving toward the Master Emerald, and Rouge immediately flew into its path, blasting as she went.

The robot's cannon arm switched to its second setting. Fifty or sixty silver objects that hummed whirred toward her, slicing through long grass that they encountered. The bat's wings were shredded, punctured by the missiles. She could no longer fly.

She leaped to where Knuckles had fallen, hoping to wake him, knowing she couldn't… and felt an impact behind her.

An explosion vaporized the bat instantly.

The robot flexed its strong left arm and ran to the Master Emerald. The robot picked up the Emerald as if it was a pebble and looked up at the sky, where a massive aircraft was descending.

Dr. Robotnik, usually known as Eggman, stepped out of the shuttle. Eggman had lost some of his pounds, and he was now lean and muscular. The robot came to him and placed the Master Emerald on a hovering cargo platform, which was guided away by several of Eggman's weaker robots.

"Excellent," cackled Eggman, a smile sprouting under his moustache. "With the Master Emerald and now the Chaos Emeralds, I shall reign supreme!" He then turned to the robot. "Where are the Chaos Emeralds?"

"As you know, the bat had stolen all of them and taken them here with her," said the robot in a deep voice. "She was vaporized by a blast."

This would have infuriated the doctor if it had happened with any other scheme involving the Chaos Emeralds, but Eggman was confident enough to be unaffected. "This could work out even better than I thought! The Master Emerald has enough power on its own to serve as a source of energy. If I harness that energy to my newest creation, nothing will stop me!"

"Yes, my master."

"Return to your position. We leave soon," said the doctor.

The robot that had taken the Master Emerald walked into the ship. It marched into a massive bay, filled with hundreds of others just like it. It stood in line, the one thousandth of its kind. The airship rose and departed Angel Island, leaving murder behind it.

Sonic felt something then, causing him to stop his running. It had to be something important for him to stop in the middle of a race against Shadow, so the black hedgehog backtracked back to Sonic. Their intense rivalry had degenerated over the years into a friendly competition, and Shadow wasn't going to take advantage of Sonic.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" he asked, waving a hand in front of Sonic when he didn't answer. "Hello?"

"I just… something's wrong," said Sonic. "It's…" He gazed around the beach where they had been racing. "Someone's here. Besides us."

Shadow looked around. "I'll check." He looked behind several palm trees, the only place to hide on the sandy shore. "There's nothing…"

Tikal appeared from out of the water. Sonic gave Shadow a brief look before turning to her. "What is it?"

"Knuckles and Rouge…" She coughed violently with a hint of a sob in it. "They're dead."

Sonic felt something in him, an empty space where his heart was. His temples throbbed once and he felt how silent it was. His hearing seemed to have increased, and the silence pressed on him.

"Dead?" asked Shadow in a gravelly voice that Sonic had never heard. "Dead?" The black hedgehog turned from them and walked several feet away. The footprints he left were heavy, as if he was using all his strength to remain upright. "They're dead," he whispered.

"Knuckles?" said Sonic in horror. "Rouge?" His face grew angry, so coldly furious that Tikal took a step back. "Who did this?" he demanded, his voice cracking.

"Eggman," she said. "He's developed a new robot. No vulnerable point whatsoever. You can't defeat them with conventional firearms. A fleet of them could take apart the military."

"He was on Angel Island," said Sonic, his face growing tense. "That would mean…" His face regained its anger. "Eggman's taken the Master Emerald," he whispered. "Rouge had the Chaos Emeralds with her. He's taken them!"

"Slow down, Sonic," said Tikal. "We found Knuckles body, but Rouge was vaporized by some blast, and the Chaos Emeralds with them.

"Do the others know about this?" asked Sonic, his body trembling. He heard soft sobbing from Shadow.

"I told Omega, and I practically had to reprogram him to keep from going after Eggman right now," said Tikal. "Nobody else. Can you think of anyone?"

Sonic thought of Amy Rose. He had gotten over his dislike for her, but sadly she had gotten over her affection for him. He didn't want to see her be sad. And Tails… he wouldn't tell Tails. He was too young.

"No," he said. "But I'm going after him."

"You're not leaving without me," said Shadow.

"Shadow, no," said Sonic. "This goes back longer than any of you. I'm going to kill Eggman. Kill him." The words echoed in his mind, and he felt disgusted for ever having been content with less.

"You think I don't want to kill him too?" asked Shadow coldly. "He killed Rouge. And I knew Knuckles too. We do this together."

"Eggman is going to be in Central Town in two days," said Tikal. "You can find him there. He can't bring an army of robots with him there."

"We go after him now," said Shadow, and he was about to dash off when Sonic stopped him.

"If we go after him together, we have to plan it right," said Sonic. "We can't rush through. We need to plan it."

"Omega and I can stay at your house until then, right?" said Shadow, recovering from his anger. "We're going to need to be together."

"Sure," said Sonic. The words _Kill him _echoed in his mind as he and Shadow raced toward Sonic's house.

Suspenseful, huh? Read and review!


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic Heroes 2 

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. That belongs to Sega.

The wrench clattered to the ground for the eighth time that hour. Tails' hand, hidden by an oil-stained mechanic's glove, descended and picked it up. Tails was exhausted. He'd been working on the motorcycle for days, sometimes working 16 hours a day. He was planning on giving it to Knuckles, just to show their friendship. Even though Sonic was the thing that tied them together, Tails best friend in the world was Knuckles. The brave echidna always had good advice for Tails when he was feeling upset or frustrated and could cheer them all up. Tails knew that Knuckles would be home soon from his month-long stay at Angel Island, so he began to work even harder on it.

In a half an hour, it was complete. The silver bodywork glimmered under the halogen lights of the mechanic garage that Knuckles had built for him. Knuckles. He knew the echidna would be happy.

He heard voices and looked out the only window. Hastily he covered the motorcycle with a large canvas tarp and exited the garage, placing his grimy gloves and wrench in a toolbox. It wasn't Knuckles. It was Sonic, Shadow and Omega.

"Hey, Shadow!" cried Tails. Shadow was like an uncle to Tails, someone who he rarely saw. The excited fox flew upward in a circle around Shadow. Usually the hedgehog would try to catch Tails and then ruffle his fur. But Shadow didn't seem to be in the mood. "Not now, Tails. Omega and I are just staying for two nights, and we have to talk to Sonic."

"Omega?" asked Tails in a small voice. Even though he knew Omega hated Dr. Eggman, he got a little nervous because Robotnik made the robot. Tails wondered what Omega would have been like if he had made him…

"Yes," said Shadow curtly, stepping aside to permit Sonic and Omega. "Run along, Tails. We're working."

They walked to Sonic's rec room and shut the door, leaving Tails confused.

"We'll have to pack up quickly, but only what we need," said Shadow. "Tails will be suspicious if he notices something missing."

"Nourishment unnecessary," said Omega. "Pack money if you wish to eat."

"Good plan, Omega," said Sonic. "And we'll need to program you not to talk about Knuckles' death or any of it around Tails." At Omega's reluctant agreement, Sonic took out a screwdriver, opened Omega's memory bank, and began typing.

"What should we bring?" asked Sonic. "We need a place to sleep, so sleeping bags, I have 10,000 dollars we can bring, and…"

He slid aside a Tunisian rug that had cost him almost as much as the house to reveal a trapdoor. It slid open and Sonic stepped down into it, followed by Shadow. Omega was still processing his new information, so he stayed.

Guns littered the floor. Labeled boxes of bullet cartridges and ammo cluttered a shelf. Shadow even saw martial arts equipment, such as a long, thin sword and a wooden pole. He picked up a long, thin AK-74 assault rifle and blew dust from it. "I'm taking this one," he said.

Behind him, Sonic tossed a Kalashnikov AK-47 into a crate. "Why have one when you can have all of them?"

"I don't see anything Omega's gonna use, though," said Shadow. "Eggman's obviously protected against what Omega has now."

"We'll need to ask Tails to make us something, but not get him suspicious," said Sonic. "Also, we can't take the Tornado, so I'll need him to fix my car."

"What type of automobile do you possess?" asked Omega, fully reprogrammed.

"A Lamborghini," said Sonic, finished packing weapons. "Let's talk to our man Tails."

They walked into the garage, where Tails was painting the letters KNUCKLES on the side of the motorcycle.

"Why isn't Knuckles home yet?" asked the trusting little fox.

"I don't know, Tails," said Sonic wearily. "But can you make Omega some new weaponry? It's pretty weak."

"OK," said Tails, already sketching a blueprint.

"And can you repair my car? One of the axels is bent and the driver's door doesn't open right," said Sonic.

"I've already fixed that," said Tails.

"Thanks, buddy," said Sonic, ruffling Tails furry head. The kid… he was still innocent, he didn't know. They'd destroyed many robots, but never had Tails seen or participated in murder. He couldn't know.

"Bye, Sonic," said Tails as Sonic, Shadow and Omega walked into the house.

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Sonic Heroes 2 

Please review, I need feedback on my first serious fic.

Tails painted a thin layer of red on Omega's new weaponry. He had reassembled two BG-15 grenade launchers to fit on Omega's arms, and a flamethrower was mounted on each wrist. Finally, Tails had taken the targeting scope from an SVD Dragunov sniper rifle and supplied it to Omega's new weaponry. Whistling, he walked down the hall to Sonic's bedroom. He was about to knock when he heard voices.

"We'll get to Central Town in two hours if we take the freeway," said Shadow.

"Error. Fastest route is back roads. Must initiate hunt for Eggman as quickly as possible," said Omega in his robotic monotone.

"We won't be noticed on the back roads," said Sonic. "We should go that way. We're not going to take chances about avenging Knuckles."

Avenging Knuckles? Tails sucked in his breath and continued to listen.

"Do you think Tails should know?" asked Shadow, causing Tails to jolt.

"No," said Sonic. "He's still young. Let him be innocent. We'll tell him what happened to Knuckles someday… he can't know."

Tails gasped. Something had happened… not just something. Knuckles had to be dead. It was clear. That was why he hadn't come home.

Tails ran to the garage, sinking as he went. As he reached the motorcycle, he fell to his knees and pitched onto the floor, racked by silent sobs. Knuckles would never see his motorcycle. Knuckles was dead. _Dead. Dead. _It had to be some horrible joke… a horrible, cruel, demented joke… but it couldn't be. Well, if they wouldn't tell him in the open, they wouldn't let him go with them. Tails was going by himself.

Tails pulled a Beretta from his workbench. Knuckles had given it to him. He placed it in a side compartment on the motorcycle and filled up the gas tank. With a grim look on his face, Tails zoomed into the night.

Sonic stepped into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. It was Tails turn to cook breakfast, and he had promised Belgian waffles. Therefore, Sonic was a little let down when he saw the kitchen was deserted. A note was on the counter.

Sonic,

Why didn't you tell me? I'm going. You'll call me a man once I'm done with Eggman.

Tails

"Oh no," whispered Sonic. He ran to where Shadow and Omega were staying.

"Switch Omega on, Shadow," said Sonic. "We're going."

"Huh wha-" asked Shadow. "Sonic, it's 7 in the morning!"

"Tails left in the middle of the night. He's going after Eggman."

"WHAT?" shouted Shadow.

"And I can't find Omega's weapons," said Sonic. "Come on, let's get in the car."

They ran to the car garage. Sonic's car was there. They leaped into it. Sonic searched for the keys, which he had left in the ignition. They weren't there.

"He's trying to keep us from following," said Sonic. "Well, if he thinks he's faster than Sonic and Shadow he's got another thing coming!"

They dashed out of the garage, Omega following. Sonic and Shadow were a blur as they moved.

Tails zoomed down the country road, pulling one hand from the handlebar to load his Beretta. It was a good thing, too, as he saw a group of Eggman's robots ahead.

"Please identify yourself," said one. "This road is blocked off." It was about to pull up its gun arm when it found two bullets in it. It collapsed.

Tails brought up the front wheel of the motorcycle, shielding himself from their attacks. He jumped off of it, firing at two robots as the motorcycle crushed two more. The motorcycle was undamaged, having a rock-hard exterior. Tails leaped on it after disposing of the other robots and continued.

Central Town was busy at night. Cars zoomed along the streets, and neon lights glowed in the many nightclubs and casinos. The largest building in town was the Aerodock, a huge parking lot for aircraft. It was dominated by a huge ship, from which Eggman emerged with six robot bodyguards.

"The Master Emerald shall be connected to my defense generator," said Eggman. "When I make my assault on Earth, no one will be able to harm my creation!" He cackled as he stepped off the Aerodock into the city.

"I don't know why I'm doing this," grumbled Shadow. "Tails is the hacker, not me." He was hacking the database of Chateau le Magnifique, the city's most prestigious hotel. After a few minutes, he smiled. "Just as I thought. Dr. Ivo Robotnik has a reservation in the penthouse suite." He smiled again. "Let's go!" They dashed away from the computer terminal, entering the hotel in twenty seconds.

"Excuse me," said Shadow, giving the clerk at the marble desk a sly smile, "but I'm meeting Dr. Robotnik in the penthouse suite. I understand he has a reservation." He waited patiently with Sonic and Omega by his side while the woman checked her computer.

"Yes, he does," she said, snapping her gum. "Give this card to the butler there, and he'll let you in." Shadow accepted the small blue plastic card, and the trio entered an elevator.

As they reached the floor of the penthouse suite, Shadow handed the card to the butler. They were permitted in.

It was a huge suite, with a massive bed, a kitchen, and a glorious view of the city. There was only one thing out of place.

Sonic, without warning, used his Homing Attack to bounce off a wall and reach the ceiling, from which he pulled down Tails.

"What were you thinking?" he shouted in the terrified fox's face. "You ran away. You could have died!"

"You're not my parent!" shouted Tails defiantly. "You're not even as good as a friend! What kind of friend keeps secrets from his friends?"

"It was for your own safety!" said Sonic violently, shaking the fox. "Eggman kills people. If he can kill Knuckles, he can kill you!"

"I'm not a kid anymore!" shouted Tails. "I'm-"

"Well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog!" said Eggman from the doorway, surrounded by robots. "And little Miles Prower? And look- it's my invention Omega and the Ultimate Lifeform!" The evildoer laughed, and then grew serious. "Kill them."

Omega opened fire against the robots. They walked through the explosion as if it didn't exist. But their weapons had little effect on Omega either. He drew their fire while Shadow and Sonic pulled out their weapons and began to fire.

Two robots came for Tails. He flew over them and saw their weak point. The joints of their metal quills were weak. He fired at them, exposing their wiring. The two robots collapsed on the floor, twitching as Tails ripped out sparking circuits.

The next pair of robots charged directly at Sonic and Shadow. Shadow sidestepped the robot, embedding it into the wall while he fired at its weak point as Tails had done. Sonic ran up the wall he was cornered against, landing behind the robot and ripping out its wiring as well.

Omega had grabbed one robots head and crushed it with his hands. The last robot launched a cable across the room, hoping to strike one of the four heroes with the steel cord. Sonic grabbed it as it passed him and tripped the robot with the cable, leaving Tails to rip out its wiring.

Eggman stared open-mouthed at the chaos. With a cry, he ran, the four heroes following him.

Eggman picked up the butler, in his way, and held him as a shield, forcing the heroes to stop firing. With a snicker, Eggman ran into the elevator. Sonic, Shadow and Tails made for the spiral staircase down. They dropped off the railing, falling until Tails flew them to safety. Omega, however, made it into the elevator with Eggman.

The doctor grabbed the ceiling of the elevator using suction gloves and lifted himself over a devastating punch from Omega. He dropped a small grenade onto the floor of the elevator. It exploded, sending Omega falling to the bottom of the elevator shaft…

Suspenseful, eh? Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Sonic Heroes 2 

Please read!

Sonic and Shadow raced down a hallway, ignoring stares from people nearby. Shadow knocked a door in with a flying kick and they entered the lobby of the hotel. Security guards rushed them, aiming compact guns at the hedgehogs. Shadow and Sonic didn't hesitate. They picked up Tails and threw him into the first few guards, the fox shooting all the way. Sonic used his Tornado Attack to launch a few into the air, which Tails gunned down. Meanwhile, Shadow was facing off against five guards.

One swung a stun club at him, its tip crackling with electricity. Shadow ducked under the weapon and rammed the guard in the vulnerable chest. Picking up the body, Shadow swung it around and flung it into another guard, trapping him. The hedgehog grabbed another guard and used him as a shield, firing at the two remaining guards before throwing his human shield into the automatic doors. Sonic and Tails followed him into the night.

"Where's Omega?" wondered Tails. They had forgotten him in the heat of the moment, and they turned in all directions.

"What's that sound?" asked Sonic as a rumbling filled the air.

Both questions were answered as Omega drilled out from under the ground.

"I dug my way from the elevator shaft," explained the robot.

"How'd you get in the shaft?" wondered Sonic, but the question was never answered. A thirty-foot tall mech stomped into view. Eggman sat in a cockpit, laughing his evil head off.

"You'll need more than that puny robot to defeat me!" he cried. The mech, with astonishing speed, dashed at the heroes with guns blazing. The bullets were as large as trash cans, and Sonic and Shadow could see them from a mile away. Immediately Sonic began his Homing Attack, bouncing off of the huge shells until he was high in the air. With Tails help, he launched himself to the cockpit and began to try to shoot his way in. But before he could start, a trapdoor on the machine opened and several robots emerged. While Sonic was distracted, Eggman began trying to crush Shadow with huge feet.

One of the robots got in a successful blow and knocked Sonic off. Tails caught him.

"Sonic! Shadow has an idea!"

With great strength, Shadow swung Omega into the air. At the same time, Tails dropped Sonic. Shadow performed the Homing Attack off of the mech's raised foot, then off of Omega. When he used the attack of Sonic, the impact sent the blue hedgehog careening back onto the mech. Shadow finally bounced off of Tails, and both hedgehogs were on the mech. Meanwhile, Tails grabbed the flying Omega and the two landed on the mech as well.

Omega eliminated the robots sprouting from the trapdoor while Tails began firing at the rivets that held together the transparent cockpit. It fell off, shattering on the pavement below, and Tails prepared to deal the blow he had waited his whole life for.

Eggman got it in quicker, though. He punched Tails with a fist that seemed to be made of solid stone and then grabbed onto the falling fox.

Tails felt many things just then as he plummeted. He could fly away, but he would be bringing Eggman to safety. Or he could fall… and bring both of them to their deaths.

Tails flew. He knew then that he'd never be brave enough to die for what he knew was right. But he'd saved himself.

Eggman dropped to the ground when they were five feet over it. The mech, without a pilot, went into autodrive and marched away, cracking the pavement as it went. 

"My machine is returning to its hangar," cackled Eggman. "Now it's just the five of us…" He picked up Tails and threw him into a wall. The cement cracked and Tails gave out a moan before lying still.

"TAILS!" screamed Sonic. He briefly saw Knuckles and Rouge in his mind, and then Tails. All were dead. Tails spat out a bit of blood, and then lay still.

"Excuse me, just the four of us," continued Eggman. "Let's see how you do."

He backhanded Shadow five feet away and jumped from Omega's bullets. Picking up the robot with superhuman strength, he performed a devastating piledriver. The robot's plating was dented and it lay still.

Sonic and Shadow began firing at the doctor. He held up Omega's bulletproof body, blasting the bullets back at them. They dodged, but now their guns were useless.

With a cackle, Eggman picked up Tails body as well as Omega's. A hovering cargo platform veered near. He piled the two bodies on top of it, and jumped on himself and flew away before either hedgehog could get in a shot.

Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Sonic Heroes 2 

Please read and review the fifth chapter! And all the others!

Sonic stood there, shaking in rage. Shadow looked at him.

"He's taken Tails and Omega," said Shadow, his voice almost shaking. "We have to follow him!" He almost ran after the shuttle, but Sonic grabbed onto his arm. He had been running so fast that the sudden stop swept his feet out from under him. Sonic looked down at him.

"We're going to have to do this logically," he said. "Where's Eggman's airship going to be?"

"I don't know, the… the Aerodock," said Shadow. "Of course!" Sonic pulled up his friend and they dashed down the street, knocking over cars and even people in their race to vengeance.

Eggman watched Tails and Omega's bodies locked into a large capsule. They slowly woke up.

"I've got you in my clutches, Tails and Omega," hissed Eggman's voice through the speakers. Omega and Tails felt themselves and realized their weapons had been taken away.

"You'll never stop us, Doctor!" cried Tails, but Eggman continued as if Tails had never spoken. "It's a one-way speaker, he can't hear us," he said to Omega.

"You'll be perfect hostages!" cackled the doctor. "You'll be dead by the time your hedgehog friends get here, and they'll be dead as soon as they step in my fortress! Then no one will be able to stop me from using my Chaos Machine!"

"Chaos Machine?" asked Omega to Tails.

"It is a simulation of Chaos," said Eggman, "but it does not function without the Master Emerald. Then… along with my army of new robots, the Brawler Bots, the world will have no hope!" The transmission ended as the ship rose into the air.

Sonic and Shadow dashed into the Aerodock. Security personnel launched themselves into the hedgehogs' way. None were armed. The hedgehogs picked up the security guards and threw them to the side. They saw the largest ship in the dock lifting.

"EGGMAAAAAAAAN!" screamed Sonic in wrath.

Shadow dashed to a smaller, lighter aircraft they had passed. He dealt with the guards brutally and efficiently and jumped into the pilot's seat. Sonic jumped in after him. The aircraft lifted into the air and shot after Eggman's craft.

"Eggman's on autopilot," said Sonic at the controls. "His destination… the Sienna Islands."

Shadow sat in the lounge of the ship, head in his hands. He remembered Knuckles and Rouge. Rouge… he remembered when they first met, with Omega by their side… but Omega wasn't here anymore. Her seductive smile and rebellious nature had entranced the black hedgehog. Omega was too robotic to befriend, and she was his support when he was searching for the mysteries of his past. He would give anything to bring her back.

_When I had allowed Eggman one wish, I should have tricked him into wishing Rouge eternal life, _thought Shadow. _But with eternal life… I would grow old, and she would stay young, young forever… no. That would be a curse._

Team Dark would come back together. He promised, at that moment.

Tails and Omega were marched out of their capsule and locked into prison orbs, large, hollow balls with a skeletal metal frame that locked a prisoner inside the ball. They were rolled into a large bay dominated by a massive propeller, like that of a helicopter, with two circular holes on each end to accommodate their prisoner orb. The orbs were mounted into the propeller, which slowly began to spin. Omega clicked and beeped in distress, while Tails screamed.

The propeller came to a stop. Tails threw up, the vomit shooting out of his orb and splattering on the concrete below.

"Is that any way to treat your host?" asked a sinister voice. Eggman looked up at them, inches from the goo Tails had ejected.

"EGGMAN!" screamed Tails. "YOU KILLED KNUCKLES!" He spat at the doctor. "AND ROUGE! I'LL KILL YOU!" His high voice rang through the bay, sounding pitifully immature.

"Promises, promises!" said the doctor. "Not in this life, you won't. For you see, Tails, I believe that we live our lives over and over and over again, with no memory of what we did before when we start a new life. Now the horror will happen again, over and over again, and the people will die again and again. And I will have the thrill of the first time again and again, because it is new to me each time. It's the apocalypse repeated."

"You're insane!" shouted Tails. "It won't work!"

"Remember what I said about promises!" said the doctor. "Your friends aren't going to fly in here to save the day!"

The east wall collapsed. It exploded into infinitesimal shards of concrete, glass, and insulating material. From the cloud of debris, bits and pieces of Eggman's Brawler Bots exploded outward. An aircraft emerged, piloted by Shadow while Sonic fired a machine gun from the nose, a large propeller shielding him. The aircraft's gun sent vast chunks of asphalt and concrete shooting from the ground. Another shot destroyed the propeller Tails and Omega were strapped into, but it did not free them from their prison orbs.

Three Brawler Bots tried to leap up to Sonic's level. They were destroyed by the propeller that chopped the air in front of Sonic. Shadow continued firing the guns, weakening the joints connecting the ceiling and walls and creating menacing cracks.

Eggman prepared to shock Tails and Omega with an electric charge mounted into the prison orbs. But Sonic had already freed them. He handed Tails and Omega heavy firearms. Sonic picked up the two empty prison orbs and threw them at Eggman. He dodged them and ordered a squad of Brawler Bots after them, running in pursuit himself. Shadow, however, had other ideas. With a final shot, he caved in the ceiling partway, trapping the progress of the Brawler Bots but leaving Eggman free to chase. He hopped out of the aircraft and stood in Eggman's way.

"It's between you and me, Eggman," he said. They stared each other down.

Tails fired a huge riot gun into a wave of Brawler Bots. They were concussed by a massive shockwave. Sonic, Tails and Omega continued to run.

"What are we looking for, Sonic?" asked Tails.

"The Master Emerald," said Sonic. "If we can get that, it'll be as good as we can do without killing him. And that can happen later!"

They climbed a staircase that was nearly fifty feet high (or rather were carried by Tails, who flew them up) to reach a room which had a massive glass floor. The Master Emerald rested on a massive dais on the opposite wall. But a horde of Brawler Bots, at least two hundred, emerged and crowded the trio, making their weapons useless. Sonic threw his into an oncoming crowd and began to battle. But there wasn't any hope.

"Omega! Take Tails and the Emerald!" screamed Sonic, on his hands and knees.

Omega grabbed the Master Emerald. Tails struggled to pick them up. It was so heavy… black spots appeared before his eyes, growing larger… was he going blind?

Tails flew them onto a ledge. The Master Emerald nearly teetered over the brink, but Omega pulled it back in.

Sonic lifted one arm, surged by Brawler Bots. Then he punched the glass floor.

An increasing spiderweb of cracks scurried across the glass floor, fingers of death reaching for victims. The cracks reached the walls…

The floor shattered beneath them. Sonic reached out to Tails as he fell, mouth closed and eyes open, not in horror, but in doing what he must do. It was fifty feet down, and Sonic closed his eyes resolutely.

The Brawler Bots were crushed upon hitting the floor beneath. Sonic was lost in the collision.

"NO!" screamed Tails. Omega pulled him back.

"I will guard the Master Emerald," said the robot. "For Knuckles. You help Shadow."

With a resolute nod, tears brimming in his eyes, Tails flew down, wondering if he should stop flying and die for what he knew was right, like Sonic had done. But he wasn't brave enough.

Shadow and Eggman burst into motion at the same time. Shadow grabbed a long pipe, ripped from the wall by the explosion, and vaulted into the air, feet extended. Eggman seized the pole, hoping to bring Shadow down, but the hedgehog had let go. On opposite sides of the field from where they had started, they turned around to face each other.

Eggman launched the pole at Shadow. One end rammed into the ground, cracking it, and the other end sliced downward at Shadow. The hedgehog avoided it, using his Homing Attack to rebound off of a wall and at Eggman.

The doctor backhanded him at the floor. Shadow used his legs to knock Eggman over, jumping back up at the same time. He was about to deal a death blow when Eggman rolled out of the way and stood, giving Shadow an uppercut so powerful that Shadow lifted two feet off of the ground and collapsed on the concrete, moaning. But above him he saw Tails… descending slowly…

"Goodbye, my creation…" snarled Eggman. He leaped into the air, preparing to throw his full weight onto Shadow in a body slam.

Tails intercepted the doctor, slamming him into a wall. Eggman cuffed the fox onto his back and then rushed Tails. Tails shot his feet up, and Eggman fell upon them in surprise. Tails performed a backward somersault, and Eggman was launched away. As the doctor got to his feet, he kicked Shadow hard in the side to make sure Tails wouldn't get any help from there. Eggman picked up a chunk of debris and hurled it at Tails. The fox was distracted, and Eggman took the opportunity to kick Tails into the wall.

The fox grabbed Eggman with horrible force. Eggman screamed in pain at the strength with which Tails held him. Tails pulled Eggman high into the air… higher… they were twenty feet above the ground. Far below, Shadow groaned.

Tails threw Eggman on the nose of the aircraft. The propeller had stopped spinning, and Eggman lay prone, groaning. Tails jumped into the aircraft and began driving it. Eggman's eyes widened as they veered toward a wall. "NOOOOOOO-"

"Tails, stop!" screamed Shadow.

The wall fell on top of them as the aircraft exploded. Tails felt his body, consumed by fire and falling stone, and then… nothing.

Shadow stared in disbelief at the wreckage. He stepped toward it, hoping to find Tails. He'd lost everyone except Omega… it was too much. He fell to the ground and cried, cried for everyone and everything. He cried.

He and Omega went to Angel Island to return the Master Emerald. As they placed it back, Shadow heard something.

"Listen!"

A crunch. Shadow felt a flurry of emotions, similar to what he knew Knuckles and Rouge must have felt before their deaths. He motioned to be quiet to Omega and crept through a growth of ferns. A copper-furred bat sat by a fallen tree, crying silently. When she saw Shadow, she sprang upright, shielding herself.

"We're not going to hurt you," said Shadow, Omega appearing behind her.

"That is one of Eggman's robots," said the bat, waving a small iron bar in front of her. "Are you working for him?"

"He's not around to work for," said Shadow. "Our friends sacrificed themselves to kill him."

The bat's eyes lit up. "What did he do to anger you so?"

"He killed our friends on this very island," said the hedgehog, moving closer now that there was no threat of danger.

"He killed my sister Rouge," said the bat, putting down her arm. "I vowed vengeance on him."

"Rouge never denied our beliefs that she was an only child," said Omega.

"Who can say why?" said the bat. "I wish we could do that; to talk to those we loved but aren't here anymore."

"Well, there's enough of Eggman's robots running around to take out your vengeance on," said Shadow in a friendly way. "What's your name?"

"My name is Baton, for what I use as a weapon," said the bat, holding up the iron bar. "What are you called?"

"I am Omega, and my counterpart is Shadow," said the robot.

"Come on, Baton," said Shadow. "We're a team now."

Baton's eyes lit up again. "A team? We never had much of a family."

"A team," said Shadow, gently squeezing her hand.

And the new Team Dark left Angel Island, carrying a friendship with them.

Aww… a nice happy ending… REVIEW!


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